EFFECTS OF SMOKING UPON HEALING COURSE AFTER SURGICAL EXTRACTION OF MANDIBULAR IMPACTED THIRD MOLAR IN ABBASI SHAHEED HOSPITAL /KMDC"

Introduction: Patients who smoke suffer worse recovery complications after complex surgical removal of mandibular third molars since smoking constricts blood vessels and weakens the immune response. Objective: A research project evaluates postoperative pain, swelling, and trismus for patients who get mandibular third molar extractions at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, and screens outcomes between smokers and non-smokers. Materials and Method: The research was performed as a six-month descriptive study (from December, 2022 to June, 2023), which involved 64 patients who required impacted mandibular third molar extractions. The assessment of postoperative results through the Visual Analogue Scale for the pain involved facial plane measurements for swelling along with mouth opening restriction for trismus took place on days 1, 3, and 10 following surgery. An analysis of the data utilized both descriptive statistics in addition to t-tests. Results: Smokers exhibited significantly higher swelling on postoperative day 1 (p=0.018) compared to non-smokers, but pain and trismus showed no significant differences across days 1, 3, and 10. By day 10, pain (p=0.741), swelling (p=0.465), and trismus (p=0.923) were comparable between groups.